Its pretty clear the wingnut propaganda ministry lost no time in coming up with a hasty rebuttal to Liz Warren's devastating indictments. Unfortunately for them, they were not only premature, they missed the mark altogether. Fortunately for me, before I could sit down to compose this response, Mme Reclus sent me off to do a little commercial transaction of my own. She gave me the grocery list and sent me packing to the stupormarket. Doing my consumer chores quickly put my head in the right frame to come up with the following.

The act of peddling our lefty lovely's charms is NOT analogous to operating a business. Unlike the prototypical Mrs Warren, Elizabeth (or her analogue) is marketing her sexual favors to a highly restricted clientele, her husband and perhaps at most, a few other lovers. She is not dealing in a free market, aggressively competing for trade, using the national currency, or subject to any regulation, taxation or even civil rights protocols that must be observed by any legal business. She is using no societal resources that are not available to any other citizens, even the totally celibate.

Most important, she is not advertising or selling to consumers. In fact, she is not selling anything at all. She's giving it away. If you insist on a crass analogy, she is not running a business, she is operating a private club, and is therefore exempt from regulation and taxation.

Of course, if, like her namesake in the GBS play, she were indeed a brothel manager, a high priced courtesan or even a Vegas freelance working girl, she would have a civic obligation to pay taxes, be regulated, provide health and safety protection to her customers and employees (as they do in civilized countries where prostitution is legal), because she would indeed be running a business. And everyone would benefit, by the way. Unregulated whorehouses are criminal enterprises, as are any unregulated businesses.

So as Uncle Tom loves to say, "Nice Try". Besides, you should know by now, capitalism, business and the marketplace aren't about getting laid. They're all about getting screwed.